Gary has been committed to public service his entire life. After graduating from Harvard Law School, rather than take a high-paying job at a big law firm, he chose to teach fifth grade in a low-income school in East LA. He now works as an attorney representing low-income teen parents in family court. Gary also has been involved in the community since first arriving in Los Angeles, as a past Board Member on the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council and as a current Board Member on the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. He is from the community and understands the needs of people in the 13th district.
Gary's Vision For Los Angeles
Gary believes that Los Angeles has the potential to be a model city to others around the world. His vision as City Councilman is for the city of Los Angeles:
To have an active and engaged electorate in which the community determines the vision for the future
To be a cleaner, more beautiful, and greener city
To celebrate its historical and cultural heritage
To seek smart, sustainable solutions to everyday problems
To provide greater protections for renters
To be an economically-viable city for all socioeconomic classes
To be a safer city
To expand the public transit system so that it is utilized by Angelinos from all walks of life
In the upcoming election on March 3, 2009, it is important to know the differences between Gary and his opponent, incumbent Councilman Eric Garcetti.
Gary Slossberg:
Personal Background:
Gary comes from humble beginnings; his mother is a retired public school teacher, and his father is a retired computer networker.
Gary has been a renter his entire time living in Los Angeles, like the vast majority of residents in the 13th District.
Open Government:
Gary will make his council office open, accountable, and responsive to the people.
Gary supports honesty in government and will not support initiatives that are deceptive or self-serving.
Planning and Land Use:
Gary opposes unsustainable growth that overburdens our city's infrastructure and compounds the parking and traffic problems.
Gary supports community input into all phases of the development process and particularly when planning variances are proposed.
Gary opposes the displacement of rent-controlled and affordable units.
Billboards:
Gary opposes the proliferation of billboards in our community.
Crime and Violence Prevention:
Gary supports increased investment in proven violence prevention programs that will reduce costs and decrease crime in the long-run.
Eric Garcetti:
Personal Background:
Eric comes from a family of politicians, his dad serving as District Attorney for many years, and comes from a family of great personal wealth.
Eric lives in a large home in the hills of Echo Park. His home was recently featured in an architecture and design magazine.
Open Government:
Community members have complained of the poor response time of Eric'c council office to their concerns.
Eric supported Prop R in 2007 to extend term limits so he could run for a 3rd term.
Planning and Land Use:
Eric is on record supporting increased density in the community without any plans to mitigate the increased burden on parking, traffic, and infrastructure.
Community members have complained about the lack of access on planning decisions, in contrast to the open access given to rich developers.
Eric's advocated for a reduction in the number of affordable units hat developers must provide in order to get increased density in their projects.
Billboards:
Eric voted in favor of the settlement agreement that decreased the billboard permit fee, made illegal billboards legal, and allowed billboard companies to put up electronic billboards.
Crime and Violence Prevention:
Eric has failed to be on the forefront of pushing for research-proven approaches to preventing violence in the community.
Gary (on the left) spent his college spring breaks on community service trips, working at homeless shelters, doing yard work at a home for individuals living with HIV and AIDS, clearing park trails in the mountains, and renovating the recreation room of an abused boys' shelter.
Gary (on the left) traveled to Guatemala twice to provide volunteer work to a Mayan community and to learn about the legal challenges in the aftermath of the country's civil war. Moreover, Gary spent one of his winter sessions in Ghana with a team of law students, helping an impoverished community in the Capital city address sanitation problems and health care inequities.
At Harvard Law School, Gary (second from left) spent his first two spring breaks traveling to Haiti to learn about and to assist with community development programs in the impoverished country.
On his trips to Haiti, Gary learned about the programs addressing the needs of the thousands of orphans in the country.
